Building Our Case

Rick Range Filing Announcement

On November 14 I officially filed for the office of Texas General Land Office Commissioner to oppose George P. Bush in the March 6 Republican Primary. I am entering this race in order to restore integrity, efficiency, and accountability to this important office. I will be the conservative in this race.

I am an ex-school teacher and former professional firefighter. I was a Driver-Engineer and served as Spanish translator for the department for over 31 years. I am NOT a professional politician nor a member of the political elite that has been allowed to lord it over the citizens of this State for way too long.

The sad truth is we can’t afford to let George P. Bush remain the Texas General Land Office Commissioner any longer. He has already amply demonstrated that he cannot be entrusted with the future of the Alamo.

Although he has recently tried to change his tune once the political heat was on, we know what George P. Bush really has in mind for the Alamo, and it is the same as that espoused by the San Antonio City Council. Bush himself indicated that the focus had to be taken off the 1836 battle in order to “promote unity and not division in our society.” Bush’s own hand-picked Master Planner, George Skarmeas, publicly stated that “we cannot single out one moment in time.” So rest assured that if George P. Bush is re-elected, that is the plan that you are undoubtedly going to get.

That is why the plan on their new website STILL includes moving the Cenotaph—a memorial to the Defenders that now stands on the very spot where they died fighting. Their intent has not changed one iota. And this new website clearly states that George P. Bush and Mayor Nirenberg will be the ultimate designers—no one else.

When elected, I will see to it that the Alamo is run for Texans and by Texans. We will bring in the very best TEXAS historians, Alamo experts, engineers, and architects. Only Texans need apply. We will no longer be dictated to by out-of-state get-rich-quick carpetbagger consultants with their fanciful plans nor homegrown politically correct scalawags and petty tyrants like the radicals of the San Antonio City Government. They will finally learn that the Alamo is owned by the State of Texas and hence ALL the citizens of Texas. And the Cenotaph will stay right where it is.

I am totally committed to implementing a new plan for the Alamo that will honor the Defenders and re-create the 1836 battle environment as much as possible. And we will be using the original limestone as has been done at all four of the other San Antonio missions—NOT imported German see-through glass.

Our plan will be completed on time and under budget. Every penny spent on it will be completely open for any and all taxpayers to see. In addition, our plan will be completed at a mere fraction of the cost now projected for the Bush plan—an absurdly inflated 450 million dollars. In today’s dollars that equates to almost twice the amount of the Louisiana Purchase by which Thomas Jefferson acquired one-third of the land area of the entire United States. George P. Bush has turned this project into the biggest pork barrel slush fund boondoggle in the history of the State of Texas, all to fill the pockets of out-of-state so-called experts and his political cronies, donors, and allies.

For all of the non-Alamo-related duties of the General Land Office, we will bring in the best and most talented Texas experts in their respective field of expertise such as land surveying, land patenting, leasing, titling, veterans’ affairs, and so on.

In addition, under our leadership heritage groups such as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association will once again conduct their annual memorial ceremonies inside the Alamo Church, just as they did for years before George P. Bush literally kicked them out into the street.

No amount of the millions that he will undoubtedly spend will be able to wash away the stain on his record concerning the Alamo. The people of Texas have always remembered the Alamo, and they will remember what Bush has tried to do to it. Even the highest governing body of his own party, the State Republican Executive Committee, in an almost unprecedented move, voted 57-1 to condemn his handling of the Alamo and the associated finances. I am not only dedicated to protecting the Alamo, but am also adamantly opposed to the removal or destruction of ANY historical marker, statue, or monument anywhere in Texas, a subject on which George P. Bush has failed to utter a single word. These radical bodies like the City of San Antonio and Dallas who are destroying our heritage and historical symbols without any vote of the people are the cultural equivalents of ISIS and the destructive actions against historical and religious monuments that it has perpetrated. As your Commissioner I will offer the services of the Texas General Land Office to assist the Trump Administration in any way possible in enforcement of border security, including the building of the Border Wall where necessary. The issue of immigration is very simple—regardless of race, nationality, religion, or country of origin—illegal means illegal. Period. Lastly, I am a lifelong conservative. I am strongly Pro-Life and a staunch defender of the Second Amendment. Our candidacy has been endorsed by the Save The Alamo Committee, The Alamo Battlefield Association, and the Alamo Garrison Living History Guild. I am an Associate Member of the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, and a Board Member of the Alamo Society—an international organization of Alamo researchers, scholars, authors, and supporters. I am also a proud member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Texas State Rifle Association—the state affiliate of the NRA. In addition, I have been endorsed by Cathie Adams of the Eagle Forum/National Right To Life, and many of the state’s Tea Party leaders including Ray Myers of the Kaufman County Tea Party, Chris Dillard of the Northeast Tarrant County Tea Party, along with several others. I am also supported by Citizens Matter of Dallas—a group that is fighting that city’s tyrannical government, and numerous historical and heritage groups throughout the State. Unlike some people, I certainly do not intend to use this as a stepping stone to higher office. I vow to serve only one 4-year term, long enough to get the proper plan in place to honor the Alamo. Also, I do not seek this office for any personal financial gain. I will accept no money for my service beyond basic living expense—all of the rest will go directly back into the kitty to properly restore the Alamo. I humbly ask for your support. I would be truly honored to serve as your Commissioner. Sincerely, Rick Rangewww.rickrange.usrickrange702@gmail.com PS. I would greatly appreciate it if you would forward this statement to everybody that you possibly can and ask them do the same and so on.

Supporter's Observation

Gary Gobel:

"Having sat through a couple of Alamo Reimagined Meetings now and listened to the questions and responses, I am not enthusiastic that the "team" of experts on this issue is at all interested in the opinion of the people.

"I have come to the conclusion that only patriots and the politically connected will make a difference now. The simple fact is, the rebuilding of the mission fortress to a real attraction and homage to the battle is in real danger of being snuffed out by politically correct maneuverings and academic snobbery. We are being told how it will be—how it will be done with our tax monies on our turf with our history.

"I think the time for tolerance and discussion with this "team" has ended and this fake façade of concern for the public, the historian and the Texas patriot—has come to an end.

"I find it ironic that the same city that tore down the Veramendi Palace, paved over acequia and has had the short sightedness to allow commercial buildings to be built on the West Wall of the Alamo—a place of historical significance and renown, the most significant site of the War of Texas Independence and a legend of American folk lore and heroism, now concerns itself with any claim that these current blocking and impinging buildings sitting on the West Wall, are of historical value and should be preserved—thus complicating and restricting the complete rebuilding of the mission fortress to its full dimensions. The building of the federal post office, smack dab on the North Wall is an equally short-sighted lack of historical reverence but, this building could be retained and used as an outstanding museum of Texas Independence and should be donated for such use to the state.

"I envision the complete mission fortress, rebuilt as close as description and historical evidence indicates, to its condition on 5 March 1836, the eve of the final battle, complete with cannon, abutments, abatis, flags and such as would be found in preparation for battle. Leave untouched the iconic hump on the chapel—in fact, leave the chapel untouched as a shrine and leave the Cenotaph in place as an iconic monument to the bravery of the defenders where it has stood since 1940.

"This is only made complicated and slow by the academic arrogance of non-Texans and people who askew the reverence of this site among historians and patriots."

The "Lost" REIMAGINE Video

Many of you may remember that the REIMAGINE THE ALAMO Master Plan was announced with much fanfare in April of this year. Images of the plan as well as a video appeared on that website, but as the plan came under bitter opposition fire, the website and associated YouTube video was yanked down. Thank goodness, one of our strong supporters did some sleuthing and discovered those graphics and the video. However, one week after we posted the location, it also had been removed. You can view pictures of the plan, however.

Then visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH-xBsK9Ajc to view the plan that was initially presented to the Texas Legislature and won funding before George P. Bush took office as Texas General Land Office Commissioner.